New Research on Iron Gall Ink

SPEAKER: Various EVENT DATE: 2012/10/11RUNNING TIME: 152 minutesTRANSCRIPT:View Transcript (link will open in a new window)

DESCRIPTION:

Prior to the 20th Century, iron gall ink (IGI) was the most common ink in the western world, and a plethora of recipes from which to produce the dark, permanent ink can be found starting from the Middle Ages. The Library's Conservation Division (CD) has led an organized effort to conduct treatment assessment for IGI-containing documents since the late 1990s. At this time, new research in Europe had established some basic hypotheses concerning IGI chemistry, which led to proposal of new strategies for the preservation of IGI-containing works. Recently, the Library's Preservation Research & Testing Division (PRTD) initiated IGI research in collaboration with scientists at the University of Maryland at College Park and at the Catholic University of America; this research complements on-going CD efforts by endeavoring to elucidate some poorly understood aspects of IGI chemistry. Presenters include Lynn B. Brostoff, Aldo A. Ponce, Karen J. Gaskell, Richard C. Wolbers and Anthony F. Lagalante.